The present invention relates generally to mobile processing devices in intermittent communication with a back-end processing system and more specifically to the handling of errors of data objects in processing operations synchronized between the mobile device and the back-end system based on the intermittent communications.
In mobile processing environments, remote or handheld devices include significant amount of local processing power to conduct and facilitate various commercial transactions. By way of example, an order handling system may allow a sales person to place an order on a handheld device using local processing applications. This remote device may or may not be in wireless communication with the back-end processing system.
In these systems, the veracity of the data can be vital, for example if a person places an order for a particular item, it can be extremely important to know or validate the inventory level or even possibly the naming of the item to insure the accuracy of the original agreement as well as the smooth transaction of any subsequent commercial transaction, including the proper delivery of the requested goods.
The mobile device may be out of communication with the back-end processing system for any number of a variety of reasons. For example, the mobile device may not recognize a wireless signal or may disable the wireless communication to save power. In these existing systems, it is also common to utilize a middleware component to facilitate the interaction of the remote device to the back-end system. As recognized by one skilled in the art, the middleware provides the intermediary, where the mobile device communicates with the middleware component and the middleware component thereupon communicates with the back-end processing device.
If the mobile device sends data updates to the back-end system, the validation of the data from the mobile device may fail. This error information is sent back to the client, but due to asynchronous communication, the mobile device may not receive the error information for an extended period of time. In this time period, the user continues to use the mobile device, even possibly applying further changes to the potentially erroneous data.
If the back-end system returns an error, the requested data change is not effective on the back-end system and also not effective on the middleware device. The middleware device has a consolidated data storage device that can detect data value changes by the back-end system and changes by the clients. Additionally, the middleware can also detect if the client changes are outdated relative to the back-end server changes.
In this architecture, the back-end is the master system, which thereby defines the conditions of the consistency of the data. In particular, the back-end system determines which data is the most recent and valid data. The middleware system also utilizes a “first one wins” policy when comparing inconsistent data between the mobile device and the back-end system. Based on this, any data changes in the back-end system are given higher priority over the changes in the middleware system.
If a data object is being concurrently changed on the back-end system and the middleware system, such as through one or more mobile devices, this can be problematic. In existing systems, any changes to data objects are sent from the mobile device to the middleware system through a message. After this message is sent, the object on the mobile device is set to an inconsistent state. The middleware device then processes the message and replicates the change to the back-end system. Concurrently, the mobile device continues its normal operations using this data in an inconsistent state.
The next synchronization after the middleware device processes the object, the mobile device receives a response message including the most recent state of the object on the back-end system. Based on this message, the mobile device converts the data object to either a consistent state or a rejected state if there is an error on the back-end system.